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HOW, ^li^Li^J? 

WHEN and WHERE 

TO SOW CLOVER SEED, 



i 




i S the medium red and the mammoth clovers are the 
two varieties generally grown throughout the 
principal clover growing sections of the United 
States, we shall consider them first. We group 
them together for the reason that they belong 
to the same species, differing mainly in size of 
plant and time of maturing seed. Mammoth 
Clover, also called "pea vine," or "sappling " 
clover is a late maturing variety of the medium * 
or common red clover, its season of growth being 
two or three weeks longer than that of the med- 
ium red. It is a very common error among fa] 
mers to regard the medium red clover as a spt 
cies that yields two crops in a season, and forms seed only in the 
second crop, and the mammoth as a khd tEalN'oroduces seed in the 
first growth but would not yield seed in a second crop. The reas' 
why there is, as a rule, no seed in jne first crop of medium clovt_ 
that its time of blossoming come/ simultaneously with that of a num- 
ber of other honey plants to, which the Italian bees give the prefer- f 
ence and at the season whei there is a scarcity of bumble bees and ' 
hence there is lack of insect fertilization. To show that there is the 

+ he first crop of common red clover 

^V Wallace, a leading authori- 

a seed in the first crop 

We have cut on 

■° from the 



true cause of the lacked 
we quote from li Clover \ 
ty on clover: "The con* 
wherever it has opportune 



our own farms as much as 

i 

first crop and from a thin \ 
blooms that become fertilized. 



CLOVER GROWING-. 

ble bees, and to the fact that, during the season of first bloss 
there is an abundance of preferred bloom, which prevents the L 
bees from visiting the clover. Farmers have abundant proof of 
fact when they cut timothy for seed, in which they find more or 
clover seed when the common red is grown with timothy. 1 
mammoth would yield a second crop if the season were long enoug 
If a mixed crop of mammoth and medium red is cut by the 15 
of June, or even the 20th, and the season is favorable, many plar 
of the mammoth will ripen seed, and if they are both cut by the 1C 
of June, a crop of seed may be expected from both. As proof of tl 
we cite the fact that we have mown a meadow of mixed varieties fc 
ten years and the mammoth in this meadow holds its own, which i* 
could not do were it not annually ripening seeds.. It has never, ex- 
cept on one occasion been mowed prior to the 4th of July." The two 
varieties of clover we have named thrive wherever limestone or cal- 
careous soils exist, on this point Mr. Wallace says : < ' They grow 
luxuriantly on all the limestone soils of the eastern and middle 
states, and refuse to grow with a profitable luxuriance wherever the 
rocks are deficient in the mineral elements peculiar to these soils. 
They reach far south on the Appalachian range, and their limitation 
by soil formation is most striking in Tennessee. They grow luxuri- 
antly in middle and east Tennessee, but whenever we pass west of 
the carboniferous formations into west Tennessee, they there disap- 
pear or fail to grow in desirable luxuriance. They may be found in 
north Alabama and Georgia, and even far south ; wherever the 
peculiar geological formation of the Appalachian range appears, and 
they disappear with this formation. The peculiar composition of 
the drift soil that covers the prairies of most of the western states 
gives these ^varieties a wide distribution. It is well known that most 
,pJ- these soils are not made in situ; in other words, they are not the 
results of decomposition of rocks that underlie these states, although 
in many places. modified by them. The drift is the result of the de- 
composition of rocks far distant and is mingled so thoroughly that 
scarcely any section may be found in the western states in which 
V.here is not abundance of carboniferous or calcareous matter to de- 
elop a luxurious growth. The calcareous soils of the Missouri val- 
,y, the deposit of the calcareous formations of the upper Missouri 
furnish material for the growth of clover in the greatest abundance." 



/ 



Sowing Clover Seed, 

- . \ _ ithel . the common red clover, 
| S to the manner of «»™* «^£ iveI1 that will apply to 
or the mammoth, no rule . o» beg^ ^ ^ ^ e% ^ Ave 
wW all sections of the country, no ^ twice 

J^a area of any one —J grows, and this waste of 
ZL clover seed sown e" ^of Won the part of farm- 
seed is in the main owing to the ^.^ H 1S sown as 
4 „ the condition of the sou up ghould 
»" B 1^ to be achieved in sowing Each ^ ^ 

^ermine by £*- JJ^^SX «. *?!£££ 
of sowing is best adapted to his ^ .^ the Tj mt ed States, 

and perhaps the most successful clover ^ the 

Mr T. B. Terry, of Hudson, O pref e r . g ^ oustom t0 

when there is a light fall o snow on beg ^ ^ be „ 

low clover on winter wheat. In this way ^^ tQ any „ d 

there is little danger of leaving gaps .« ^ hQW many se eds 

txtent. By examining closely ^ ^^ The objection to thus 
be is distributing on a square foot of gr attag the young. 

, arly sowing sometimes rais ed, tha at^ g A olo veC 

shoots may be destroyed by rost ^ mo J tlie day ami 

!rL lon<* as there is any cold weather s -~^ i 

C— a" night, without »y ^^Vout a root that catShW 
Tavs cause the seed to germinate and pu . tasta „dof clover. 

Z porous, heney-combed soil, and ^™^ m . There is les/ 

/iP-nth to take root. Kentucky and Tennessee 

d6pt This method of ^fiT^* although the advantages 
W ell as in the states north of the Ohio r. ^ ^ exc y t on 

Ifl snow covering for the grou ^- f and early spring rains 
rather than the rule. The ac 



CLOVER GROWING. 5 

generally effects a sufficient covering of the seed to insure germi- 
nation. Where winter wheat is used as pasture for stock, as is 
frequently the case in Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland and parts of 
Kentucky, the tramping of the animals is often relied upon to aid 
in covering clover seed sown in February or early March. It some- 
times happens, especially in the clover growing sections south of the 
Ohio river that a severe frost late in March or early April will 
destroy a young stand of clover obtained by the above named manner 
of sowing. 

The finest stands of clover are obtained by sowing the seed in 
March, on rye and pasturing off the crop with hogs, sheep or cattle. 
If cattle are used, only young, light stock is suitable, as the heavier, 
animals do more damage than good by tramping too deeply, espec- 
ially in wet weather. With light animals the seed is, as a rule well 
covered and a good stand follows. With rye as a nurse crop success 
is largely due to the air and sunshine that the narrow leaves of the 
rye do not intercept, as do the broader ones of wheat and oats. 

Failure of clover when sown on winter wheat is frequently due 
to the hard condition of the surface of the ground, especially in a 
dry spring when the freezing and thawing does not, through lack of 
moisture render the surface sufficiently porous to imbed the seed. 
Where these conditions exist it is advisable to run a light harrow 
over the ground after sowing the clover seed and to follow it with a 
roller, which will compress the soil about the roots of the wheat as 
well as aid in properly imbedding the clover seed. 

There is a large area of country in the west and north-west 
well adapted to the growth of clover where owing to the preponder- 
ance of spring sown grains, as well as peculiar climate^conditions, 
especially dry windy weather, it becomes necessary to sow clover^ 
seed simultaneously with oats, barley, spring rye or spring wheat. 
Where this is done it becomes necessary for a fair degree of success 
to exercise good judgment as to the proper depth of covering the 
seed. Experiments made by the Agricultural College Experiment/ 
Station, at Ames, Iowa, in the spring of 1892 indicate that in a; 
season when the rainfall is ample to insure germination clover seea 
may be sown at a depth varying from j4 to 3 inches without a per- 
ceptible difference as to the result. It is evident, however, that in 
a season when the rainfall is below normal the result would be quite 
different. It would then become necessary to cover the seed at the 



/ 
/ 



6 CLOVER GROWING. 

maximum depth in order to bring it in contact with the moisture in 
the soil ; and to increase the chances of germination a heavy roller 
should follow the seeder, and this in turn should be followed by a 
light harrow, or, better still, a weeder, in order to form a mulch on 
the surface and keep the moisture of the lower soil from evaporating. 
"The most successful clover growers in the west," says Henry 
Wallace in the book from which we have before quoted, < ' and espec- 
ially in the light soils of the Missouri valley, sow their clover with 
their spring grain and give it the same depth of covering. The 
almost universal custom is to cover either with the ordinary corn 
cultivator or the disc cultivator, which in farm practice would give 
clover a covering of from one-fourth of an inch to two inches," 

QUANTITY OF SEED TO SOW, 

TJIHEN it is desired to raise clover only, without an admixture of 
%%P grass, 10 pounds of red or of mammoth clover seed to the 
acre will generally be found the proper quantity to sow. Some suc- 
cessful clover farmers sow only 7^ pounds to the acre — eight acres 
to the bushel of seed — but as a general rule 10 pounds will give the 
best results. 

CLOVER AND TIMOTHY MIXTURE, 

TTiHERE hay is an object as well as fall pasture 8 pounds each of 
VU^ timothy and clover seed should be sown. This will insm^e 
with an ordinary catch, and a fairly good growing season the year of 
sowing, anda-f-avorable winter following, a good stand of clover the 
nrst^e&rT The second year timothy will take the lead, and with an 
-average growing season will yield an excellent hay crop, feeding as 
it does on the clover roots, which supply the very food the timothy 
thrives best upon. Mr. Wallace in ' < Clover Culture " in treating on 
this subject says: "Under ordinary circumstances the land should 
then (after taking off the timothy crop, the second year) be plowed 
for corn, although if it has been pastured off after the second crop 
has had a chance to reseed the ground the previous year, clover is 
apt to assert its supremacy the following year. If it does the field 
can be kept as a permanent meadow, in many sections at least, for 
an indefinite number of years, each second crop contributing its 
quota of seed. We have this year taken the eleveiith crop from a 



\ 



part of a field managed in this way, and the yield has been larger, 
both clover and timothy than from the first year's sowing." Where 
it is the intention from the first to make a permanent meadow, Mr. 
Wallace advises that after the clover and timothy have been sown 
as above, orchard grass, at the rate of half a bushel per acre be 
sown over the same ground and harrowed in with a brush harrow. 
The orchard grass seed should be mixed with sand and road dust 
before sowing in order to insure its even distribution * * * * 
The reasons for adding orchard grass to this mixture are two: 
First, it is about the only grass that will be fit to cut for hay at the 
time the common red clover is at its best estate. Second, we know 
of no grass, except clover, that will yield such an abundant after- 
math. Where orchard grass forms any considerable portion of the fe 
sward, it should not be plowed up except after a term of years, for I 
the reason that the seed is expensive, and the grass being a peren- 
nial or growing from year to year from the same root, should be 
used as long as its usefulness continues. 

Where it is desired to use the clovers in connection with the 
other grasses as a permanent pasture, Mr. Wallace recommends a 
mixture as follows, provided the land has been in cultivation and it 
-is desired to sow the grasses with spring grain. 

Red clover, 5 pounds. 

Mammoth clover, 5 " 

Timothy, 6 " 

Blue grass, 6 " 

White clover, 1 " 

On lands where red top thrives better than timothy, red top 
should be added and timothy and blue grass lessened. On wet ^- 

lands Wallace recommends leaving out half the red and mammoth ^-^ 
clovers and substituting alsike. In describing such a pasture Mr. 
ilace says : " In a pasture seeded as above orchard grass will 
lUiJiish the first bite, so desirable in early spring, the blue grass 
comes next, followed by timothy and clovers. After maturing seed 
the blue grass will rest while the clovers are making their most vig- 
orgous growth, but will revive and take full possession of the field 
when the clovers are taking time to ripen their seed crop. The dis- 
position of blue grass and white clover to usurp full possession of 
permanent pastures renders it somewhat difficult to retain the red 
and mammoth. This difficulty may be overcome by scarifying the 



8 CLOVER GROWING. 

surface with a disc harrow and then sowing the seeds of the red and 
mammoth clovers, or by scattering manure containing these seeds 
on such pastures during the winter. 

CARE OF THE GROWING PLANT. 

TTiE do not advise turning stock on young clover the first fall af- 
\%P ter sowing. Occasionally this can be done without injury, 
but it is the exception, not the rule. If there is a good growth and 
the ground so dry that cattle do not tramp it too deeply, they may 
be turned into the young clover, but we prefer, if the growth is 
rank in the fall, to run a mower over and clip it, together with such 
weeds as may be in the field and the stubble remaining from the 
nurse crop. 

In case pasture in the Spring is more needed than a crop of 
clover hay we would advise where the common red clover is raised 
that stock be turned into it as soon as the ground is sufficiently firm 
not to be injured by tramping, and kept upon it until about June 
1st, — not later if a seed crop is sought. As soon as the stock is re- 
moved a mower should be run over the field and all such patches as 
are not eaten down mowed off. When a crop of hay is sought, the 
field should not be pastured in the Spring. We shall treat later on 
when to cut the hay crop, how to cure the hay, etc. 

In case of mammoth clover our experience is that it should not 
be pastured later than June 1st, and sheep should not be turned 
upon it, as they eat the heart out of the plant and this prevents a 
paying yield of seed. The same course should be pursued with 
mammoth clover as with common red, i. e. a mower should be run 
over it as soon as the stock is taken off, to cut down such bunches of 
clover and such weeds as have not been eaten down. 



WHEN TO CUT AND HOW TO CURE RED 
CLOVER FOR HAY. 

T|S the extent of country over which the red clover is successfully 
j\ grown is very large and the climatic conditions necessarily vary 
greatly, and no two seasons are exactly alike no time can be named 
when to cut clover for hay. In northern Indiana the time varies 
from about the 25th of June to the 10th of July. The plant has 



CLOVER GROWING. . 9 

reached its most nutritious condition when in full bloom, and this is 
the proper time to cut the hay crop, but as there is a difference in 
the time of blossoming in the central heads of the plant and the out- 
side ones some allowance in determining the period of full bloom 
must be made on this account. As good a rule as any we know of, 
is to put the mower in the field when the first blooms are beginning 
to turn brown. How to properly cure clover hay is a problem as 
perplexing as any the farmer has to contend with. His own good 
judgment is perhaps the best guide. What is written annually on 
this subject would fill many volumns, and yet poor clover hay is the 
rule rather than the exception. When clover is in blossom it con- 
tains considerably more than two- thirds of its weight in moisture, 
the per cent being 72^-, while in its properly cured form ready for 
mow or stack, its water content is between 16 and 17 per cent. It 
becomes necessary therefore to evaporate nearly 60 per cent of 
moisture before it is in proper condition to go into the mow or the 
stack. In other words, 100 pounds of green clover, freshly cut, 
when in full bloom, will weigh only about 43 pounds when in proper 
condition for storing. 

The chief problem in curing clover hay is, how to preserve the 
leaf of the plant intact and at the same time so cure it, that it will 
not be injured in the stack or mow. The preservation of the leaves 
is most essential for two reasons: First, their feeding value and 
second, their important office in evaporating the moisture from the 
stems, for it is through their agency that the bulk of the water con- 
tent of the green clover is to find its way into the atmosphere. 
When there is a rank growth of clover and the swaths are necessarily 
heavy, the use of a tedder becomes an absolute necessity, for a 
heavy swath would even in the most favorable weather fail to cure 
properly. The upper part would become so dry that the leaves 
would be destroyed, and the lower part remain so green as to spoil 
if stored away. In no other grass is the tedder so much needed as 
in clover. We fully agree with Mr. Wallace, that the proper time 
to cut clover for hay, is in the afternoon or evening preceding the 
day when it is to be housed. Clover cut in this manner should be 
stirred with the tedder at least once the following morning, and a 
second stirring a little later will be all the more beneficial. With 
good weather it can then be put into the stack or barn the same day. 
Treated in this way clover hay becomes the ideal feed not only for 



10 WHEN TO CUT AND HOW TO CURE RED CLOVER FOR HAY. 

cattle, but for horses as well, and even hogs will enjoy such a 
mess. There is no dust in such clover hay, neither is there 
woody fiber, and by thus promptly cutting the hay crop, when 
in full bloom, the second or seed crop will, as a general thing, 
be a good one. 

When clover hay is dry enough to store away the stems 
will not exude moisture when twisted tightly. As soon as this 
condition is reached it should be housed with the least possible 
delay, for no plant when dried will absorb moisture as quickly 
and in such volume as clover. When once the hay has been 
sufficiently cured for safe housing, no time is to be lost, for 
whatever moisture it absorbs afterward becomes injurious to it. 
The farmer who raises clover largely for hay should provide 
himself with one of the wagon loaders now so largely used. 
With this a ton of hay can be put upon the wagon in consider- 
ably less than half an hour, and if he is provided with the 
proper unloading tools, as he should be, the work of housing 
becomes so expeditious that there is little excuse for having 
off grade clover hay, excepting only in an extremely wet sea- 
son. When clover hay is stacked the stacks should always be 
carefully covered, preferably with slough grass, but when that 
is not procurable, tame hay may be used, or even straw is bet- 
ter than no cover. When straw is used it is necessary to fasten 
it on, or the winds will scatter much of it. As to the form of 
stack, the long rick is preferable to the round stack, as there 
is less surface exposed, and hence less waste. 

HARVESTING AND CARING FOR THE SEE£ 

CROP. 

THE clover seed crop is one of the most important products 
of the farm. It! is one of the chief money-making crops. 
When rightly looked after it is perhaps, all things considered, 
the most profitable crop that can be raised. The first essen- 
tial to success in harvesting clover seed is good judgment in 
the time selected for cutting; carelessness in cutting is respon- 
sible for a large share of the waste of clover seed which. 



HARVESTING AND CARING FOR THE SEED CROP. 11 

annually occurs. The first mistake is liable to be made in cut- 
ting the clover when it is too dry. When this is done shelling 
of the seed takes place to a far greater extent than seems pos- 
sible to the casual observer. The cutting should always be 
done when the air is damp. Ordinarily a sufficient number of 
damp days occur to cut the crop with little loss of shelling 
from over dryness, but should a dry spell prevail, as is some- 
times the case during the harvest time of clover seed, then it 
becomes necessary to cut it late at night or early in the morn- 
ing. A good plan is to begin at daybreak and continue as long 
as there is dampness enough to be perceptible. This rule 
strictly adhered to will cause a saving of seed that will aston- 
ish the farmer who has been in the habit of cutting seed clover 
at such time as best suited his convenience, regardless of the 
condition of the atmosphere. The next important considera- 
tion is the machine with which seed clover should be cut. 
Here good judgment is again necessary in order to get the best 
results. The old fashioned self-rake reaper is the best of all 
devices for this purpose that have as yet made their appearance. 
The rakes permit of the proper adjustment to make the gavels 
or bunches of clover of the required size to suit any part of 
the field. The farmer who has clover to cut for seed should, 
by all means, have it done with a reaper whenever it is possi- 
ble to do so. On farms where clover is grown for seed to any 
considerable extent a self-fake reaper will soon pay for itself 
in the saving of seed it effects. We are aware that the present 
self-binding grain harvester is used quite extensively; the ap- 
paratus for binding the sheaf is removed and a dropper, such 
as is used in harvesting flax, is substituted, but we have never 
seen satisfactory results by this means; not only are heads 
often turned downwards where this manner of cutting is em- 
ployed, but the clover lodges against the cutter bar, and instead 
of all being caught by the reel and delivered on the platform 
apron a part remains in an upright position against the cutter 
bar until the sickle cuts it up and drops it to the ground. 

The common grass mower is also used for cutting seed 
clover, but this manner of cutting should never be resorted to 
except, perhaps, in a light stand badly mixed with weeds. In 



12 HARVESTING AND CARING FOR THE HAY CROP. 

raking the swath after the mower there is always an unavoida- 
ble waste of seed. When reapers were high priced we have 
frequently seen an improvised table or platform attached to a 
mower to let the clover accumulate until there was enough to 
make a fair sized gavel, when a man raked it off the platform 
with a hand rake. This plan is not worth considering now. 
when a reaper can be bought for less than half the price 
mowers were sold at a few years ago. 

HOW TO GET CLOVER SEED OF STRICTLY 
PRIME QUALITY AND COLOR. 

THE difference in the market value of clover seed raised in 
Wisconsin or in Kentucky and Tennessee is wholly owing 
to the respective differences in cutting and handling the clover 
afterward. In Wisconsin it is not cut until ripe. The heads 
are permitted to turn black before the reaper enters the field, 
while in the south the habit of cutting early, when the heads 
are only brown, is the rule. When seed clover is cut too early 
there is a green tinge to the seed, which it retains even though 
it is afterward handled in the best possible manner. It is 
essential, therefore, that the heads, should become black before 
the clover is cut. The fact that the plant is permitted to thor- 
oughly ripen before being cut does not necessarily subject it to 
waste of seed in the process of cutting, if the proper care is 
taken to cut only when the air is sufficiently damp to do the 
best work. The greater loss from shelling in thoroughly ripe 
clover is much more than compensated for in the additional 
value of the seed over that of clover cut too early. To get strictly 
prime seed, plump and possessing the purple color charac- 
teristic of the best Wisconsin seed, it is essential that the gavels 
should lie in the field a sufficient length of time f or the straw 
to become at least partially rotten. There is no danger of 
injury by rains unless they are too protracted, when sprouting 
of seed is liable to occur, but up to the point of sprouting the 
gavels may remain in the field before being taken to the huller, 
if turned occasionally to prevent sprouting. When this plan 



CLOVER SEED OF STRICTLY PRIME QUALITY AND COLOR. 13 

is followed seed of the choicest quality and color will be the 
result. The grower of clover seed should never permit it to be 
hulled, in any ordinary season, before it has had at least one 
good rain, and several rains will not injure it, provided no 
water stands on the ground, and care is taken to turn the gavels 
or bunches afterward. The action of the rain not only renders 
the separation of the seed from the pod in the process of hull- 
ing easier, but it is the chief agent in imparting to the seed 
the purple color seed buyers regard as its most desirable feature. 

THRESHING, HULLING AND CLEANING 
CLOVER SEED. 

TO prepare clover for the huller, the gavels should be turned 
the day before the huller is to do the work. Only a 
careful hand should do this. A wide fork should be used, and 
the turning so gently done that no seed will be threshed out 
by the operation. To haul the clover to the huller a low wagon 
is best, or, if there is no such wagon to be had, a sleigh can be 
used, as the clover will have become so light that the weight 
of the loads as usually carried is insignificant. The gavels, or 
bunches of clover should be taken up by running the fork 
under them and laid very carefully upon the rack of the wagon 
or sleigh used for hauling them to the huller. In pitching 
from the loaded vehicle to the huller the same care must be 
exercised as in loading, or seed will be wasted at this stage. 

WHAT STYLE OF HULLER TO USE. 

THERE is nothing more important in successful clover 
seed raising than the matter of hulling and cleaning the 
seed. The farmer who is not fully posted as regards the 
hulling of clover is very liable to sustain serious loss after all 
the work of raising, harvesting and caring for the crop is over; 
in the very last and most expensive operation to which it is 
subjected. The first thing to be avoided is the so-called clover 
hulling attachments to grain threshers. It is impossible to get 



Y. 



^' 



14 WHAT STYLE OF HULLER TO USE. 

even the larger portion of the seed out of the straw with such 
attachments, and the little that is threshed out and saved is so 
poorly cleaned as to necessitate passing it through a cleaning 
mill; and after all this is done, there is usually a large per 
cent, of broken seed to be found in the debris of the fanning 
mill, which was broken in passing the clover through the 
" attachment." Little better than the threshing machine 
"attachment" is the clover huller with a spike hulling cylin- 
der and concaves. Such a machine always has been and 
always will be a decided failure. It is an impossibility to 
arrange either spikes or nails in a hulling cylinder and its con- 
caves in such a manner as to rub all of the seed out of the 
pods of the clover plant. Time and again have threshermen 
who owned rasp hullers rethreshed the chaff and straw after a 
spike machine, and obtained more seed than the spike huller 
got out of it at the first hulling. The thresherman who is 
posted on clover hulling will not buy nor use a spike huller, 
and the farmer who is " at himself" will not permit it to hull 
his clover, or rather to hull at it; for at best it hulls only a part 
of the seed out of it. Not only are the hullers with either 
spikes or nails in their hulling cylinders and concaves defect- 
ive at that most essential point, but the separating devices in 
them are, as a rule, quite as defective as the hulling cylinder. 
To do the best work in hulling clover there must be a picker 
behind the threshing cylinder to tear the clover apart; where 
this is lacking, as is always the case with spike hullers, the 
clover, as it comes from the threshing cylinder, will go through 
the machine in a more or less bunched condition, instead of 
traveling in a uniform mass, as it should do, and when even the 
smallest bunch reaches the rear end of the rakes it carries 
more or less seed into the straw pile with it. But the lack of 
a picker in a spike huller is only one defective point. The 
rakes, which are. moved by multiple cranks, travel between 
slats, and in doing so permit a large amount of broken straw, 
weeds, etc., to drop through and lodge upon the conveyer 
table below, and thus enter the hulling cylinder, where, at a 
considerable expense of power, they are ground or broken up, 
and thus go to the shoe to be either blown over the tail board 



WHAT STYLE OF HULLER TO USE. 15 

of the machine or they enter the tailings spout or conveyer 
and are elevau, ' back into the machine, and this operation is 
repeated over and over again. The reason that all spike 
hullers choke so persistently is that by their process of sep- 
arating they necessarily load up every part of the machine 
with the broken straw, weed stems, etc., and therefore con- 
tinually overwork separating parts, hulling cylinder and shoe. 
The principles involved in the construction of the spike huller 
are wrong from the separating parts to and including the 
hulling cylinder, and they cannot therefore do good work any- 
where or in any condition of clover. Every thresherman who 
has run one knows what the choking of the hulling cylinder in 
such a machine means. When it occurs a lever and chain is 
usually resorted to for the purpose of working the cylinder 
back and forth, and thus loosening up the impacted mass th? 
has lodged between the teeth. If this fails there is nothing! x> 
do but remove the upper cylinder and other adjacent parts 
and burrow down into the hulling cylinder, which means hours 
of hard work for himself and idleness of the balance of the 
crew. In the spike huller the concave is necessarily station- 
ary, and it is therefore impossible to prevent choking of the 
machine. Some of the makers of such machines aware of this 
very serious defect have made the lower concave of the 
hulling cylinder so that three staves can be taken out, but this 
fails to remedy the matter materially, for the reason that there 
are thirteen rows of concave teeth choked at the time, and the 
removal of three of these leaves ten as firmly impacted as 
before the three staves were taken out. The owner or operator 
of one of these machines is continually between the " devil and 
the deep sea." The only way he can keep his machine from 
choking is to lower the tail board, and when this is done seed 
is continually blown over; then he is compelled to raise it, and 
this causes choking. Compare such a machine as above 
described with 



16 THE RASP HULLER. 

THE RASP HULLER, 

MADE by the Birdsell Manufacturing Company, South 
Bend, Ind., with its picker just back of the threshing 
cylinder, its vibrating tables or bolts, whereon a perfect 
separation of the heads from the stalks takes place, the heads 
alone falling through and being carried by a conveyer floor 
to the hulling cylinder, which, together with its concave, 
is completely covered over with steel rasp; the concave 
being adjustable to exactly the proper distance for every size 
and every condition of clover seed, its roomy tailings, elevator 
capable of elevating all that can possibly come to it, a shoe 
that never needs attention when the machine is run at proper 
speed, its fan that gives just the proper degree of wind, 
its perfect recleaner that cleans seed ready for any market, 
its sixteen-foot jointed folding stacker, or its light running wind 
stacker, and its automatic feeder, and then judge for yourself 
as to the machine that is needed wherever clover is grown. 



THERE IS NO OTHER HULLER 

THAT in any essential feature resembles the BirdselL 
It is the only huller employing rasp for rubbing clover 
seed from the pods. The hulling cylinder is entirely covered 
with rasp and its concave lined with it. This rasp is 
made of extra hardened steel, which makes it durable 
and renders it proof against injury from such trash as often 
passes through a huller. The Birdsell is the only clover 
huller made that elevates the tailings toward the rear of the 
machine, and empties them on the conveyer floor, which 
takes them direct to the hulling cylinder. The spike hullers 
either empty them in front of the hulling cylinder (where 
the feeder gets the full benefit of the dust), or into one end 
of the hulling cylinder; thus giving that end of the cylinder 
more work to do than the other, detracting just so much 
from its already overtaxed capacity for good work. It is 
a notorious fact that all spike hullers require much larger 
engines or horse powers than does the Birdsell rasp huller. 



THERE IS NO OTHER HULLER 



There is a difference in favor of the Birdsell rasp hulier 
of full four-horse power. The Birdsell hulier, equipped with 
wind stacker and automatic feeder, does not require an engine 
of more than ten-horse power, and it can be run successfully 
with an eight-horse power engine. The Birdsell wind stacker 
does not need more than half as much power as other makes 
of wind stackers. It has two fans about one-half the circum- 
ference of those used in other wind stackers, and hence the 
power required to run it is reduced to the minimum. 

No thresherman who has ever owned and operated a rasp 
hulier will use a spike machine afterward, and no farmer who 
has had experience with both styles of machines will permit 
any save the rasp hulier to do his work. From one-third 
to one-half more seed will be obtained by the rasp hulier 
than by the spike machine, and it should be borne in mind 
always that there is only one rasp hulier made, and that one 
is the Birdsell. 



ALFALFA OR LUCERNE. 

NATURE has provided some species of Leguminosa for 
nearly every climate and almost every variety of soil. 
There is a western line where, owing to the lack of rainfall, 
red clover either does not grow at all, or at its best is unprofit- 
able, and this line seems to be the meeting point of the red 
clover and the alfalfa. And what is true in this regard of the west 
is likewise true of the south. Alfalfa is at its best in California 
and New Mexico, wherever irrigation is practiced and it 
extends southward into Central and South America and seems 
to thrive over a like extent of south latitude. On our own 
Pacific coast it is the one successful hay and pasture planj. In 
the valleys of Colorado it again appears as the standard grass. 
, It follows the valley of the Arkansas river from Colorado into 
Kansas, where its range is gradually extending toward the red 
clover line. In Nebraska it is likewise spreading rapidly and 
is also on the increase in Texas. We have for some years past 
watched carefully the efforts to raise alfalfa in the red clover 
area, and the progress made is not sufficient to justify us in 



18 ALFALFA OR LUCERNE. 

recommending it wherever the red clover, alsike or crimson 
clovers can be grown with any reasonable degree of success. 
It requires much more labor in the preparation of the seed bed, 
and unless the subsoil is sufficiently porous for the roots to 
penetrate and find the large amount of water the plant re- 
quires it will not do well and indeed, as a general rule it 
entirely disappears in the course of. from two to three seasons. 
The farmers in the red clover area who have succeeded in get- 
ting alfalfa to grow successfully are very few and their experi- 
ence with the hay has on the whole been unsatisfactory. 
Alfalfa, to make the best hay or indeed to make hay fit to feed 
must be cut when about one-fourth of the blossoms are out, or 
it becomes woody; and as this is precisely the time when it is 
full of sap, it is extremely difficult to cure it properly in the 
red clover " belt." Where red clover thrives the air contains 
too much moisture to properly cure alfalfa hay. Where the 
soil is saturated with water alfalfa invariably dies out, nor does 
it survive where it is covered with ice during a part of the 
winter. The following excerpt from Professor Georgeson's ex- 
perience, as related in his contribution to Henry Wallace's 
" Clover Culture," from which -we have before quoted, is appro- 
pos, " There are places where alfalfa cannot grow, regardless 
of climate. Wherever there is an impervious clay, the so 
called ' gumbo,' or a layer of hardrpan, or rock within a few 
feet of the surface, it will be a total failure if on the uplands, 
and but a very indifferent success on the bottom lands. Like- 
wise on the bottom lands, where the soil water stands too near 
the surface, or where it is overflowed for considerable periods, 
alfalfa should not be sown." The same author in the same 
publication recommends alfalfa for not only the valleys in 
Kansas where irrigation is practiced, but for both the unirri- 
gated bottom lands and even for the uplands of that state. In 
this connection he says: " Actual trials in many places have 
demonstrated that alfalfa can be grown on these dry uplands, 
but the yield in forage is not to be compared with the yield in 
the lowlands. In the first place the obtaining of a good stand 
is attended with more difficulties. If the rain in the early part 
of May is sufficient only to germinate the seed, but not enough 



ALFALFA OR LUCERNE. 



19 



to sustain the young plants till they get a foothold, the stand 
will be light, and at times it may require two or three seedings 
before the crop is well started. Again, the growth the first 
year is feeble, and nothing either in the way of pasture or hay 
can reasonably be expected from it the first season; no pasture, 
because it would kill the crop to turn the stock on it, and no 
hay because the growth is too light. The second, third and 
succeeding years it will yield increasingly good pasture, but it 
is only in favorable seasons that it will produce fair hay crops 
under the conditions named. It is, however, a great thing for 
the plant to live and yield pasturage, for as pasturage it far 
exceeds the wild grasses both in quantity and quality. There 
is no better pasture for horses, hogs and sheep, nor indeed for 
cattle, except that it sometimes causes them to bloat. This 
upland alfalfa has one other good feature— it yields seed of 
superior quality, even though only in moderate quantity. Com- 
bining these features— good pasturage, an occasional hay crop 
and a sure producer of good seed— and to add to this its ma- 
nurial properties which is by no means its least virtue, we 
have in alfalfa a better forage plant for the western plains than 
any other perennial that has yet been brought to our notice." 

SOWING ALFALFA SEED. 

THE first essential in the culture of alfalfa is to prepare 
the seed bed. The ground may be plowed either in the 
fall or early in the spring, the same depth as for oats or wheat. 
Repeated harrowings should be given the land on which the 
seed is to be sown, and if there are any lumps it will be well 
to pass a roller over it after the harrowing is done. The 
ground should be sufficiently moist when the seed is sown to 
insure its germination. Where there is lack of moisture it 
should be irrigated before the seed is sown. The seed may be 
sown either broadcast or in drills. It should be covered about 
one inch deep. The amount of seed to the acre should be 
from 20 to 25 pounds. Alfalfa does not do well when sown 
with a nurse crop; those who are most successful with it give 
it the full use of the ground. Where irrigation is possible the 



20 SOWING ALFALFA SEED. 

first wetting* after the young plants are started, should take 
place as soon as the plants are seen to be well above ground. 
This first watering of the young plants must be done with 
great care in order to prevent injury. Care must be taken to 
prevent washing away of the soil and consequent covering up 
of the young growth. It is customary in the valleys where 
irrigation prevails to give the crop from two to three waterings 
before the first cutting, the first one when the plant first 
appears, the second a few weeks later and the third just before 
cutting, i.e., long enough before to let the ground dry suffi- 
ciently for mowing and curing the hay. A difference of 
opinion. prevails as to this last watering. Some prefer to wait 
until the first crop is cut and housed, and then let the water on 
immediately after. The field is always irrigated at least once 
between each cutting, and occasionally twice. Where a seed 
crop is desired it follows the first cutting. It is seldom the 
case that a profitable hay crop can be cut the same season 
after a seed crop, but good pasturage follows the seed crop 
and lasts through the season. A good crop of alfalfa will 
yield from 2% to 3 tons of hay at the first cutting, and the 
seed crop that follows will be from 6 to 8 bushels per acre. 
When no seed crop is wanted and hay only is sought, the field 
can under favorable conditions be mowed from 5 to 6 times, 
and the average will be about four cuttings in a season on the 
Pacific coast. In Colorado and Kansas the average is about 
three cuttings. The yield of hay from an acre of thrifty 
alfalfa is. from five to eight tons a. season. 

HULLING ALFALFA SEED. 

IN the alfalfa plant the seed is encased in a pod which termi- 
nates in a hard, sharp-pointed horn. This horn must be 
broken by the machine employed to do the hulling in order to 
get the seed out of it. This being the case, it becomes evident 
at once that no spike huller can possibly do good work in 
alfalfa. The Birdsell rasp huller is the only hulling machine 
in the world built expressly for alfalfa. It is sold under the 
positive guarantee that it will get all the seed out of the straw 



HULLING ALFALFA SEED. - 21 

and save it. In hulling alfalfa the amount of tailings to be 
elevated is much greater than in common clover, and the ele- 
vator in the Birdsell huller has been constructed with that 
end in view. It is capable of taking care of all that comes to 
it without ever clogging. It elevates toward the rear of 
the machine, the same as on the clover huller, and dumps 
the tailings on the conveyer floor, from where they go 
direct to the hulling cylinder. In most other hullers the tail- 
ings are taken to the entrance of the threshing cylinder, where 
the feeder gets the full benefit of the enormous amount of 
dust the alfalfa contains. The large yield of seed in alfalfa, 
as compared with Gommon red clover, necessitates increased 
capacity in the recleaner, which has been fully provided for 
in the Birdsell alfalfa huller. The upper separating bolt or 
vibrating table in the Birdsell alfalfa huller differs from the 
one in the clover machine, as does also the shape of the deck, 
and the length of the threshing cylinder, which in the alfalfa 
machine is 36 inches. The axles and wheels for the alfalfa 
machines are made from the most carefully selected stock, and 
are warranted to stand the wear and tear to which they are 
subject in the western alfalfa region. The new wind stacker 
and the automatic feeder are attached to the alfalfa machines, 
as well as to the ordinary clover huller. Readers of this pam- 
phlet who have alfalfa to hull should write to Birdsell Manu- 
facturing Company, South Bend, Ind., for huller catalogue. 



HOW AND WHEN TO SOW AND RAISE 
ALSIKE CLOVER. 

ALSIKE or Swedish clover is far too little known or culti- 
vated. Its value in the utilization of wet lands makes it 
a favorite wherever known. It thrives where few other tame 
grasses can be raised, and yields an abundance of the best of 
all clover hay. Mr. Wallace in "Clover Culture" recommends 
it particularly for sowing about the edges of sloughs, and 
states that good results are obtained " by burning the slough 
grass off in the fall, and sowing the alsike seed in the follow- 



22 HOW AND WHEN TO SOW AND RAISE ALSIKE CLOVER. 

ing March, and afterward either pasturing the grass off or 
otherwise, early in June cutting down the grass, with a mower, 
in order to secure light and air for the young plants, and the 
grass and clover together can be mown in the fall as a grass 
crop. The next year unless the land or the season be very 
wet but little will remain save the alsike, which may be used 
either as a hay crop or for seed. The effect of seeding in 
this manner," continues Mr.Wallace, " will be somewhat surpris- 
ing. On wet lands where the coarser varieties of slough grass 
grow, the growth of the alsike will be accompanied by the 
decay of the roots of the coarser grasses, they being smothered 
out by the rank growth of the alsike. This will have the effect 
in time of allowing the water to sink away that has heretofore 
been held by the mass of the roots of the wild grass, and 
especially if the land be pastured after the first and second 
year's mowing, the entire surface will be compacted by the 
tramping of cattle, and if a slough the water confined to the 
center. It will then be possible in the course of two or three 
years to sow white or red clover or blue grass, the result of 
drier conditions. In fact, we know of no way of reaucing the 
width of a slough and limiting it to a narrow channel, so 
effectively as sowing with alsike and treating in the manner 
above indicated." Alsike clover is a perennial. The stalk is 
more slender than in the red clover, but as it grows thicker on 
the ground, the yield of forage compares favorably with that 
of the common red, while the seed yield is somewhat in excess 
of the red. The size of the seed is between that of the white 
clover and the common red. It is easily distinguished by its 
difference in color, the alsike seed being of a greenish hue. 
The seed always commands a good price, averaging as a rule 
about six dollars per bushel, and seldom falling below four 
dollars. Alsike is not often cut for hay, except when it is 
mixed with other grasses. It is more of a pasture plant, but 
its value lies chiefly in the seed crop, its fertilizing qualities and 
its adaptability to low land, where few of the tame grasses 
can be grown. It is very popular in northwestern Ohio, 
especially in Williams and Defiance counties, and is rapidly 
spreading in Wood, Henry and Putnam counties. It never 



HOW AND WHEN TO SOW AND RAISE ALSIKE CLOVER. 23 

fails to become a favorite on lands that are moist and not 
underdrained, and where it is most largely raised, farm mort- 
gages are few. 

HULLING ALSIKE CLOVER 

THERE is only One clover huller that can be used to hull 
alsike and that one is the Birdsell rasp huller. The 
spike hullers do poor enough work in any clover, but in alsike 
they simply do not work at all. The Birdsell clover huller is 
warranted to get all the alsike seed out of thestraw and save it, 
and to clean the seed ready for market. The alsike farmer 
cannot afford to fool away time and money in experimenting 
with clover hullers. The spike hullers would be dear property 
as a gift to the alsike grower. The Birdsell hul'er as adjusted 
for red clover does perfect work in alsike, the only alteration 
required being a finer screen in the recleaner, made expressly 
for alsike seed. 

SCARLET, OR CRIMSON CLOVER. 

SCARLET, or crimson clover thrives best near the Atlantic 
coast from the northern boundary of New Jersey to the 
northern line of South Carolina. It does well on both the 
sandy soils of the coast lands and the white clays. It is grown 
more or less in every southern state, from Florida to Texas, 
but nowhere else does it grow as well nor bear as large a yield 
of seed as in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and North Caro- 
lina. North of the Ohio river and west of the Allegheny 
mountains crimson clover is liable to winter kill unless it has 
some protection. Those who have succeeded in getting good 
results in northern Indiana have sown it in growing corn and 
left the corn stalks standing in the field over winter. With 
this protection good crops of seed, averaging eight bushels 
per acre have been raised. We are, however, inclined to the 
belief that where common red, mammoth and alsike clovers 
thrive these had best be adhered to as a general rule. There 
are, however, times when crimson clover may be sown to ad- 



s 



24 SCARLET, OR CRIMSON CLOVER. 

vantage at the last cultivation of some hoed crop and be 
plowed under either late in the fall or early following spring 
to good advantage even as far north as southern Iowa. We 
shall therefore deal somewhat at length with it, and reproduce 
a part of a supplement issued with the " Clover Leaf " in 
December, 1892. The following description we reproduce 
from the XVI. Bulletin of the Delaware College Agricultural 
Experiment Station, of which Arthur T. Neale is director: 

I. 

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANT, AND ITS COMPARISON WITH ORDI- 
NARY RED CLOVER. 

Scarlet clover is an annual. About the first week in June 
it can be expected to mature a crop of seed, from sowings 
made during the preceding July, August and September. If 
pastured in the early spring it renews its growth, in part at 
least, and matures at the usual time. It may be seeded in 
April, a practice followed in central and southern Europe 
whenever it is to be used as a substitute, for red clover crops, 
ruined by severe winters. This plan has been attempted once 
at least by this Station; a May sowing gave a very heavy 
growth during the following fall, but no blossoms appeared 
and the plants were destroyed during the winter by a fungus, 
harbdred under the excessive forage. It is a rank grower at 
one stage of its development; stools to an unusual degree 
when opportunity offers; attains oftentimes to a height of two 
feet; is characterized by a brilliant scarlet blossom, will easily 
yield per acre eight tons of green fodder if cut between the 
fifth and tenth of May; roots to the depth of two feet even in 
unfavorable soil; and for silage, hay, and to plow down for 
green manure compares well, under favorable conditions, with 
any leguminous crop. 

In comparison with ordinary red clover, its most marked 
peculiarities are: 

1. Its ability to flourish on relatively poor soil. 

2. Its development during the fall, winter and spring. 
Growing at a time of year when most of our foul weeds are 

in seed, it escapes one danger, and provided with an unusually 



SCARLET, OR CRIMSON CLOVER. 25 

well developed root system it finds sufficient food when red 
clover would be on half rations. 

As it grows when wheat and even rye seem dormant, 
scarlet clover can not be seeded with winter grain. One or 
the other crop would be destroyed. 

As it is in blossom on or about May i, it can be used for 
many purposes other than those usually served by red clover, 
particularly for soiling and for plowing down in place of rye. 

II. 

SEED. 

Of the five varieties of this clover known to European 
writers four have scarlet blossoms and differ from each other 
essentially in their relative powers to withstand winter weather. 
In that respect the original seed supply on this peninsula 
seems, fortunately, to have been of the sturdiest type. The 
fifth variety is characterized by a white flower, which in shape 
and size is practically identical with that of the true scarlet 
forms. 

Many a field in Kent county has furnished a few fine speci- 
mens of this white blossoming plant, but to the best of my 
knowledge it has never attracted attention enough to cause its 
peculiarities to be studied. One thought, however, is awak- 
ened by the color of its blossom, viz.: Schmedlin, in his valu- 
able treatise on the leguminous plants of Germany, calls atten- 
tion to a falsification of ..scarlet clover seed. He states that 
the Egyptian clover Trifolium Alexandrinum yields more seed 
than any known variety. This seed so closely resembles scarlet 
clover seed that one reliable seedsman was misled by it and in 
turn misled his customers. 

A peculiarity of the Egyptian clover is a white blossom. It 
differs decidedly, however, in shape and size from that of the 
scarlet types. It is valuable in very many respects, but it is a 
summer clover and can not stand late frosts, to which it might 
be exposed if seeded early in the spring. Much less certain 
is it to mature a crop if handled as our scarlet variety is han- 
dled and should be handled. 

The prevailing tone among the writers who represent the 




COMMON RED CLOVER. {Trifolium pretense.) 



SCARLET, OR CRIMSON CLOVER. 27 

northern section of the United States is, that scarlet clover 
" winters out." Is it certain that in every unfavorable case, 
scarlet clover has been under test? May not the abundant 
crops of Egyptian clover seed have been substituted and pass- 
ing innocently through importers' hands, may they not have 
reached consumers, and thus have given good ground appar- 
ently for the unfavorable verdict? Certain it is that the Dela- 
ware type of scarlet clover has stood low temperatures when 
seeded upon any proper soil on this peninsula. 

One other doubtful point is here brought to the attention 
of conservative farmers: 

The annual report of this station for the year 1890 shows 
that a disease, well known in Germany and France under the 
name of clover cancer, but hitherto unknown in the United 
States, made its appearance upon three of this station's experi- 
mental plots at Newark. The seed used is believed to have 
been from imported stock. This disease attacks and destroys 
— red clover, white clover, scarlet clover and alsike clover. 
One method only for securing relief from its ravages is noted 
by those who have had experience with it, that is, to avoid the 
cultivation of clover crops for a tenn of years. Now it is possible 
that the fungus, which Professor Chester identified as the true 
cause of this cancer, may exist in the United States, harboring 
upon other crops or upon weeds. Possibly it has already 
caused losses in clover fields which have never been under- 
stood because the attention of men who are especially skilled 
in detecting the causes of such trouble has not been attracted. 
But, one thing is evident, the liability to meet this disease 
may be lessened by selecting seed grown under one's own eyes 
upon fields known to be free from the clearly visible mani- 
festations of this fungus. 

III. 

WHEN, WHERE AND HOW TO SOW SCARLET CLOVER SEED. 

It has been established by several years' experience that 
an excellent "take" of scarlet clover can be secured from 
seedings in peach, pear and apple orchards, provided the seed 
is sown immediately after the last cultivation of the trees — 




MAMMOTH CLOVER. (Tn folium medium.) 



SCARLET, OR CRIMSON CLOVER. 29 

that is, about the middle of July. Seedings in August have 
also been thoroughly successful. 

A very large acreage in field corn in Delaware is also 
seeded each year to scarlet clover immediately after the culti- 
vation of this crop is finished for the season. If the corn is 
an ordinary crop, check rowed, then success in securing a 
"catch" is the rule and the crop is unusually heavy in growth, 
but if drilled and cultivated in one direction only, then a pos- 
sibility of a poor " catch " exists. If pumpkin seeds are planted 
with the corn, a good " take " of clover may be seriously 
damaged by the vines. 

Any field from which early crops have been removed may 
be seeded. Success with millet and with buckwheat as cover 
crops have been reported. One failure where the millet was 
unusually heavy has been noted. 

The quantity of seed to be used depends upon the aims of 
the sower. It varies between five and fifteen pounds per acre. 
In orchards and in standing corn the Cahoon broadcaster is a 
very serviceable machine. With it an energetic man can seed 
four acres per hour in corn, by walking in one middle and 
seeding two others on either hand, thus covering ten middles 
in one round trip. Seeding from horseback is also practiced, 
the casts in this case being made by hand. 

As to the necessity of covering the seed, opinions differ 
widely, successes and failures being freely credited to and 
charged against each method. 

Failures in securing a stand are most frequently charged 
by practical men to heavy beating rains, closely following the 
day of seeding. As one eminent southern writer expresses it 
however, the damage is generally caused by the intense heat 
of the sun following the rain storm and falling upon the 
sprouting seed. 




ALFALFA. (Medicago sativa.) 



SCARLET, OR CRIMSON CLOVER. 31 

SCARLET CLOVER AS A CROP TO PLOW DOWN FOR GREEN 

MANURE. 

a. In peach, pear and apple orchards. 

b\ For corn crops, for potatoes and for tomatoes. 

Any growing crop which occupies the ground during Sep- 
tember, October and November, preserves the valuable nitrates, 
which, according to Lawes and Gilbert, would be washed into 
the subsoil or drains if fields lie in the condition usually seen 
in corn growing countries. Of all crops for this purpose the 
clover excels, for if the available nitrates in the ground are not 
sufficient for its development, then a leguminous plant like the 
clover, as Hellriegal and Atwater have demonstrated, can take 
care of itself, having the peculiar power of securing its nitro- 
gen indirectly from the air. 

To make the chain complete, practical men report that 
scarlet clover decays, under ground, far more rapidly than 
other varieties familiar in Delaware agriculture, and by decay- 
ing liberates its stores of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash 
for the use of any crops which may follow in the rotation. 

SCARLET CLOVER IN PEACH, PEAR AND APPLE ORCHARDS. 

In no other place in Delaware farm management has the 
scarlet clover found a better or more useful field than in the 
orchards. Where land is very poor, capable of producing ten 
bushels of corn only per acre, there a heavy burden of green 
matter can be plowed under in May. The custom has arisen 
to turn the sod in such a manner that many of the blossoms 
remain above ground. In time, seed ripens; by harrowing the 
land, this seed is scattered, and a very heavy crop of clover 
soon begins to grow therefrom. This method of seeding in- 
volves no expense whatever. 

When the soil in a peach or pear orchard has been enriched 
so that it could raise twenty bushels of corn per acre, then prac- 
tical men advise caution. Messrs. E. H. Bancroft and J. G. 
Brown fill their silos with clover from their orchards; Col. 
E. L. Martin and Charles Wright make clover hay. In both 
cases, relatively broad strips, uncut on either side of the rows 



.» i. ■»■!<» . mmi 




ALSIKE. (Trifolium hybridum.) 



SCARLET CLOVER. 33 

are left and after the orchard has been plowed and cultivated, 
the matured seed from these strips, drifting in the wind or 
purposely scattered by the owner, insure a heavy catch of 
clover for the following season. By thus removing the largest 
proportion of the clover, respect is shown for the opinion that 
too much nitrogen aids in the destruction of peach trees by 
yellows and of pear trees by fire blight. 



SCARLET CLOVER PLOWED DOWN FOR 
CORN, POTATOES AND TOMATOES. 

AS already stated, seed for this clover must be sown in July 
or August. In order therefore to use this crop to enrich 
a cornfield, in ordinary rotation, fall pasture of meadows or 
mowed field must be given up and a substitute found for food 
consumed in August, September and October. This will be 
found in the pasture afforded later by the clover, and in the 
turnip crop which can be raised with it. From seed sown in 
July or early August a heavy crop of clover can be plowed 
under as early as the first week in May. If the custom pre- 
vails of allowing a second corn crop to follow the first, then as 
soon as the first crop is "laid by" in July, seed at once to 
scarlet clover using twelve pounds of seed per acre. This will 
afford late v/inter and early spring pasture during the follow- 
ing year and will be fit to plow down in good season for the 
second corn planting. 

Exact experiments made at Dover, Del., give a high valua- 
tion to scarlet clover when plowed under for a sweet potato 
crop. As a substitute for nitrate of soda, in raising that crop, 
it was a decided success. On Irish potatoes, planted late, it 
promises also to be of advantage. In two cases tested by this 
station the results were good, although extraordinary yields 
were not obtained. 




SCARLET OR CRIMSON CLOVER. ( Trifolium Incarnatum.) 



x 



SCARLET CLOVER FOR SILAGE. 35 

SCARLET CLOVER FOR SILAGE. 

CUTTING the crop green in quantities sufficient for each 
day's supply is also coming into use. One writer in the 
Country Ge?itlema?i represents that farmers in the neighborhood 
of Richmond, Va., find it profitable to send loads of the fresh 
clover to the city and retail it to liverymen for ten cents per 
heaping bushel basket. 



SCARLET CLOVER FOR HAYMAKING. 

THE first and second weeks in May seem rather early for 
haymaking, yet good crops of scarlet clover were suc- 
cessfully cured last year, at that time by a number of farmers. 
Whether this can be done every year remains to be seen. In 
quality this hay may be of tl ; highest. Analyses made at this 
•station of samples dried with special precautions show that in 
chemical composition this hay rivals bran. 



SCARLET CLOVER FOR SEED 
PRODUCTION. 

HITHERTO the demand for domestic seed has exceeded 
the supply. The yield of seed on properly prepared 
fields is noticeable. Fifteen bushels per acre have been 
harvested, but nine and ten bushels per acre is a large crop. 
Some growers attribute their success to their energy in hulling 
and housing their seed without losses caused by rainfalls. 
The large and heavy heads dry slowly if once thoroughly 
soaked, and the seed sprouts with remarkable rapidity. When 
over ripe the seed shatters easily, and a heavy percentage is 
thereby often wasted. Small growers have cured and housed 
their products and hulled it at their leisure. Others have 
hulled from stacks, with varying results. 



I 



7 




SWEET CLOVER. {Melilotus alba.y 



TO HULL SCARLET CLOVER SEED. 37 

TO HULL SCARLET CLOVER SEED. 

THE first consideration in this connection should be, what 
style of huller to use, the rasp machine or the one using 
spikes? Both styles have been tried a sufficient length of 
time to determine which is adapted to the peculiar conditions 
of scarlet clover In New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and 
North Carolina the majority of scarlet clover fields are infested 
with wild onions, which are green and full of sap when the 
clover is cut for seed. The curing of the clover in no wise 
affects the onions; they are as green when they go into the 
machine as they were when first cut. These weeds when 
ground up by the huller exude a juice which oxidizes as soon 
as exposed to the air and forms a gum that adheres like pitch 
when once it becomes " set." In the spike huller this sticky 
substance gets into the tailings elevator and a portion of it 
goes through both cylinders of these machines several times, 
causing endless choking even in the driest of clover. The 
seed of scarlet clover is in a pod shaped something like a clove, 
and unless this pod is partially denuded of its ■' wings " it will 
lodge, point downward, in the meshes of the screen in the 
huller shoe and entirely fill it up. No amount of wind from 
the fan will dislodge them. It takes all of one man's time to 
keep this screen or " riddle " free from these pods, and in 
removing them by hand much seed is wasted. It is impossible 
to do good work in scarlet clover with any huller that does not 
demolish these pods to such a degree that they will not lodge 
in the "riddle." 

The Birdsell rasp huller is the only machine that does this. 
By setting the adjustable concave to the hulling cylinder so close 
that only a very thin knife blade can be inserted between the 
rasp at the closest point and running the hulling cylinder at a 
speed not to exceed 750 revolutions, with every belt on the ma- 
chine well tightened, the pods will be so ground up that they 
will not lodge in the " riddle," and at the same time the cylin- 
der will clean itself of the onion gum. Should the hulling 
cylinder become smeared with this gum through improper 
adjustment, the concave can be quickly removed and with an 




JAPAN CLOVER. (Lespideza striata.) 



WHITE OR GERMAN CLOVER. 39 

old broom or stiff scrubbing brush and some hot water and 
concentrated lye the gum is quickly removed. 

Kerosene oil can be used for this in lieu of the water 
and lye. By exercising the proper care in the adjustment of 
the machine and running at the proper speed "gumming" and 
lodging of the seed pods will be entirely prevented with the 
Birdsell huller. 

WHITE, OR GERMAN CLOVER, 

THIS clover is too well known to need a lengthy description. 
It is one of the most valuable of the grasses in permanent 
pastures. With white clover in the dryer parts of a pasture, 
and alsike in the swails, or low places, in the proper propor- 
tions with other grasses, they are of inestimable value to the 
farmer. White clover is profitably raised for its seed in Wis- 
consin and in northwestern Ohio, more especially in Wiscon- 
sin. It is cut with either a mower or a scythe, and is raked 
up with a hand rake and either stacked or left in the field in 
bunches until properly cured for hulling. It is hulled success- 
fully with a Birdsell huller only. No other machine is capable 
of getting and saving one -half the seed, while the Birdsell gets 
all of it, cleans it and sacks it in marketable condition. The 
yield of white clover seldom exceeds two bushels per acre, but 
its value in the markets fully makes up for the smaller quan- 
tity produced, as compared with red clover. The price of the 
white German seed is from $10 to $14 per bushel. 

Besides the clovers we have mentioned in the preceding- 
pages there are some minor clovers, the illustrations and 
descriptions of which we have copied, by permission, from 
Henry Wallace's " Clover Culture." Mr. Wallace is perhaps 
better informed on all that pertains to clover than any other 
author with whom we are acquainted. He is at present the edi- 
tor and publisher of Wallace's Farmer and Dairyman, a weekly 
agricultural paper, published at Des Moines, la., subscrip- 
tion price $1 per annum. To such of our readers as desire to 
keep in touch with the progress of clover culture in the United 
States and at the same time read one of the best farm papers 




(Trifolium fucatu /«.) 



THE MINOR CLOVERS. 41 

once every week, we heartily recommend Wallace's Farmer 
and Dairyman. Mr. Wallace informs us that he is now pre- 
paring a new book on the clovers fully covering all that is 
worth the farmer's study of the plant in all its forms, which 
will be given as a free premium with a year's subscription to 
his paper. 

THE MINOR CLOVERS. 

OF these is the melilotus alba, commonly known as sweet 
clover, which can be found growing in gardens, whence 
it escapes to the highway, vacant lots, especially in cities, and 
to neglected fields. A sub-variety of it is known as Bokhara 
clover. It grows to the height of six or eight feet on good 
land when not cropped, and its only value, on lands that will 
grow red or mammoth clover profitably, is as bee pasture. For 
this purpose it will pay apiarians to sow it along the roadsides 
or in the vacant corners and other neglected lands. In the 
drier portions of the west and in the south this clover has very 
considerable value. It is proving a valuable forage plant and 
also one of the renovating crops greatly needed in some of the 
more southern states. Trials at the Mississippi Agricultural 
College and by planters in that state seem to have established 
this fact beyond question. Like all the other clovers it has 
the capacity of appropriating nitrogen from the atmosphere 
and thus enriching the land and preparing it for the profitable 
production of other crops. Where it has been found impossi- 
ble to grow the better varieties of clover it is worthy of trial, 
and experiment stations in those states where the better 
varieties are not a success should make a still more careful 
and thorough investigation of its merits. 

«- 

JAPAN CLOVER 

JAPAN clover (Les Pedeza Striata). In some unknown 
way there was introduced a variety of clover into the 
south Atlantic states from Japan about forty-five years ago that 
has proved of no little economic value, known by the above 
name. It was little noticed before the late war, but during the 




LARGE HEADED CLOVER. {Trifolium megacephahtm.) 



MINOR CLOVERS. 43 

war it extended south and. west and has spread rapidly over 
a large district of country, especially along roadsides, in 
abandoned fields and in open woods. It is an annual, growing 
up every spring and dying off by frost in the fall. It repro- 
duces itself from seed on the same ground year after year. It 
thrives on poor soils but prefers clay, and only on rich bottom 
lands does it obtain size sufficient to justify cutting it for hay. 
It does not withstand drouth as well as Bermuda grass, but it 
is, nevertheless, of great value to the southern farmer. It 
should be sown at the rate of half a bushel to the acre. 

TRIFOLIUM FUCATUM. 

This is one of the largest and strongest growing of our 
native kinds, and is found on the Pacific coast. Under favor- 
able circumstances it attains a height of two or three feet. 
The stem is decumbent, smooth, thick and juicy. The stip 
ules at the base of the leaf are half an inch to an inch long, 
ovate, broad, and clasping the stem. The leaves are trifoliate, 
with stems or petioles three to six inches long; the leaflets 
vary from roundish or oblong to obovate, thickish, strongly 
veined, three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half long, 
and with numerous small, sharp teeth on the margins. The 
flower heads are large (one to two inches in diameter), larger 
than those of the common red clover on naked peduncles 
(stems), which are longer than the leaf-stalks (sometimes five 
to six inches long). There is a conspicuous green involucre 
surrounding the base of the flower-head deeply divided into 
seven to nine ovate, entire and pointed lobes, which are 
about half as long as the flowers. The heads contain com- 
paratively few flowers (about eight to ten), but these are about 
an inch long, thick and inflated, the calyx about one-fourth as 
long as the corolla, which varies from pink to purple in color. 
Mr. S. Watson, in the "Botany of California," says of this: 
41 A common species in the coast ranges and in the foothills 
of the Sierra Nevada, through the length of the state — in some 
places very abundant and affording good pasturage." It 
would seem very desirable that this species should be given a 
fair trial in cultivation. 



r 




( Trifoltum involucratiim.) 






MINOR CLOVERS. 45 

■ 

trifolium.megacephalum (Large-headed clover). 

A low species, seldom reaching a foot in height, but robust 
and with strong, deeply penetrating roots. A number of stalks 
usually proceed from one root, but these stems are unbranch- 
ing, somewhat hairy and terminate with a single large head. 
The lea 'es mostly proceed from the base of the stem, there 
usually being but one pair on the stalk near the middle. The 
lowest leaves are long-stalked, and with five or seven leaflets 
instead of three, as in most clovers, but the upper ones are 
sometimes reduced to three leaflets. The leaflets are an inch 
long or less, somewhat wedge-shaped or obovate and blunt at 
the apex, and with very fine, sharp teeth on the edge. The 
stipules at the base of the leaves are large, mostly ovate in 
form, and sharply toothed or deeply cut. The heads are 
mostly terminal, about one and one-half inches long, on a 
naked peduncle, and without an involucre. The flowers are 
large, purplish, about an inch long, and very compact and 
spicate in the head. The calyx with its long, plumose teeth, 
is half as long as the corolla. This species grows in the moun- 
tain regions of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and 
Montana. It is not as large as the common red clover, but 
experiments are needed to determine its possibilities for 
pasturage. Its large, Showy heads and its peculiar leaves would 
make it an interesting ornamental species. 

TRIFOLIUM INVOLUCRATUM. 

This is an annual species, presenting a great variety of 
form, but under favorable circumstances reaching one and one- 
half or two feet in height and of vigorous growth. The 
stems are usually decumbent and branching below, very leafy, 
and terminating with one to three heads on rather long 
peduncles. The leaves are on stalks longer than the leaflets, 
which are in threes, one-half to one inch long, of an oblong or 
obovate form, smooth and with very fine, sharp teeth on the 
margins. The stipules are I^irge, ovate, or lanceolate, and 
usually much gashed or deeply toothed. The heads are long- 
stalked, about an inch long, the purplish flowers closely 



\ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




002 766 878 1 * 




RUNNING BUFFALO CLOVER. ( Trifolimu stolonifernm. 




._ .1 



junded with an involucre, which is diviv9 e d 

g-toothed lobes. The flowers are half to thr<? e - 

h long, slender, with a short, striate calyx, tile 

ire very slender, entire and pointed, and littl? 

che corolla. This species has a wide range ot 

re western part of the continent, prevailing from 

British America through the mountain districts. 

.tivation it would probably produce a good yield'of 

out has never been subjected to experiment, so far as 

ytRiFOLiUM stoloniferum (Running buffalo clover). 

/This is a perennial species, growing about a foot high; long 

anners are sent out from the base, which are procumbent at 

rst, becoming erect. The leaves are all at the base except 

-<e pair at the upper part of the stem. The root leaves are 

g-stalked, and have three thinnish obovate leaflets, which 

are minutely toothed. The pair of leaves on the stem have 

the stalk about as long as the leaflets, which are about one 

inch long. 

The stipules are ovate or lanceolate, pointed, and entire on 
the margins, the lower ones nearly an inch long, the upper 
ones about half as long. There are but one or two heads on 
each stem at the summit, each on a peduncle longer than 
the leaves. The heads are about an inch in diameter, rather 
loosely flowered, each flower being on a short, slender pedicel, 
or stem, which bends backward at maturity. Each flowf ' 
a long-toothed calyx about half as long as the com 1 ' 
is white tinged with purple. This species i 
open woodlands and in prairies in Oh : 
and westward. It is smaller i^ 
growth that the common re^ 



T 



p' 




MINOR CLOVERt 



cent, the stems slender, procumbent a 
leaves are trifoliate, on petioles of variabK 
lits are about half an inch long, obovatt 
jase, and somewhat notched at the summit, 
nearly as long as the leaflets, ovate or lanceoi 
toothed above. Each • stalk has usually twc 
heads proceeding from the upper joints. The re 
are from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in dia 
out an involucre, and with numerous crowded, sm 
on slender pedicels, which become reflexed in age. \ 
lanceolate teeth of the calyx are slightly shorter t. 
small, purplish, pointed corolla. The pods are usuall\ 
seeded. This species occurs in all the southern states a 
Texas. It is too small to be valuable for fodder, but is woi 
a trial as a constituent of pastures in the south. 



Y 



THE END. 





Hollinger Corp. 
pH 8.5 



